While there’s a great deal of overlap between them, each ranking relies on a different methodology to evaluate citizenships and, by extension, passports. No wonder so few of them reach the same conclusions.

Methodology basics: Developed by Simon Black, this ranking considers a country’s international arrivals and GDP and gives each country an “attractiveness score”. Visa-free access to more attractive countries gives a higher rank. There’s more too, but too much to explain here. Follow the link above to learn more.

Methodology basics: Stephane Tajick’s Passport Index evaluates citizenships on the basis of visa-free access (but also the duration of permissible visa-free stays), the relative popularity of a country as measured in international tourist arrivals, and assigns a gold, silver, and bronze rating to each country.

Methodology basics: This ranking (and its sub-rankings) draws on a survey of more than 21,000 respondents and compares countries on a variety of metrics; economic factors, human rights, ease of doing business, and even how much fun they are.

Top-ranked country: Switzerland

Citizenship-by-Investment Program Rankings

(Indices that rank only countries with active citizenship by investment programs)